Friday, April 29, 2016

How Foursquare knew before almost anyone how bad things were for Chipotle - The Washington Post

Foursquare, the "biggest foot traffic panel in the world"

"Chipotle announced its first loss as a public company Tuesday. But two weeks earlier, an unlikely source —the social media app Foursquare — had beat Chipotle to the punch, predicting in a blog post that the burrito maker’s sales would drop nearly 30 percent. Chipotle made it official Tuesday afternoon — reporting a drop of 29.7 percent.

The remarkably accurate prediction from a company consumers know for restaurant tips and the ability to check in at locations highlights the emerging power of the gobs of data our smartphones collect and the opportunity for savvy companies to convert that information into piles of cash."